Brooklyn Brewery dinner at Flying Saucer

The Flying Saucer hosted a successful dinner with beers from Brooklyn Brewery.

The beer came from Brooklyn, but the food was distinctly Houston. The combination was enough to make you not miss Monday Night Football any more.

Upstairs at the Flying Saucer last night, we sampled six Brooklyn Brewery beers, enjoyed six dishes paired to match by the Saucer’s Will Sandifer and got to visit with the brewery’s Robin Ottaway and Nadine Jones.

First up was the brewery’s biggest seller, Brooklyn Lager, paired with nuts from the suddenly ubiquitous Houston Dairymaids. Sandifer roasted the nuts in rosemary to good effect, and I loved how they were complemented by the Lager.

Ottaway, Brooklyn’s sales manager, is the son of an early investor who worked as a journalist in the Middle East with one of the Brooklyn Brewery founders. The family continued to invest over the years, so Ottaway grew up around the beer. He recalled how the Lager was considered “edgy” when it first came out.

Today, said Jones, the Austin-based Texas brand rep, Brooklyn Lager is second only to Guinness among draft beers on tap in New York City.

Ronnie Crocker

Robin Ottaway of Brooklyn Brewery, talking shop with UFO Club members at the Flying Saucer.

Next up was the amazing Sorachi Ace saison, which Ottaway said will join Brooklyn’s permanent lineup in April. It was served with a Thai ceviche with coconut. Another hit.

The main course consisted of short ribs cooked in Local 2, a Belgian dark strong ale. Sandifer worked on the recipe all last week, and the result of his hard work was a caramelly delight.

The Local 2 dish was followed by a bleu-cheese plate (Dairymaids again) with a pour of Brooklyn’s imperial IPA Blast! that’s made with a combination of American and English hops.

The dinner wrapped up with a 2007 vintage Black Chocolate Stout and Mexican vanilla ice cream from Amy’s. Jones pointed out that it’s perfectly OK to pour the beer directly over the ice cream. Ottaway told the crowd that the ’07 stout should be at or near its peak in the aging process.

“The people in charge, management, went out of their way to secure this beer for us,” he said.